Success With Inexpensive Weather Fax System

[John Stone]

I am determined to improve my HF reception this year in preparation for our return to the windward Islands in Nov. I only carry a small portable Sony GR 7600 shortwave receiver on the Far Reach. It worked OK two years ago for our trip to and from the West Indies. I used the provided external antenna which improved reception but did not meet my expectation though I picked up Chris Parker fine. What I really wanted was weather Fax. I tried using the Blackcat Software but I failed miserably. I had no luck downloading weather faxes.

However, I kept hearing people talk about the success they have had with Blackcat. So, I have been trying different antenna combinations [using the rigging did not help much) and have started to focus on a better end-fed random length antenna—about 45’ long. I have experimented with the antenna horizontally as well as vertically oriented. Along with the antenna, I am learning a lot more about the various controls and setting on the GR7600. I am also learning how to interpret the Fax signal better. The bottom line is I have started to get very good results.

Over the last couple days I downloaded about a dozen faxes to include satellite images. Today, I pulled in excellent WX faxes from New Orleans and Boston. I have also had almost static free reception from several BBC stations in Africa. So far I have about $150 invested which includes the HF receiver, antenna, and weather FAX software. Right now I am pretty optimistic that I am going in the right direction.

I have been using the HF receiver’s speaker to feed the data into the iPad but I am working on a direct feed from the receiver to the iPad mini. Below are a couple faxes from today. There is a lot of misinformation out there about what you need to make this work. Turns out it’s not as complicated as I was making it. I’ll write more about it on my website once I get it nailed down.

[Tom Keevil]

John, I'll be very interested in hearing the details of your setup. We have been using the same receiver either feeding directly into our PC laptop, or audibly into our iPad. Instead of the antenna supplied, we get better results clipping an alligator clip onto the chainplate bolts down below. It is important not to have electronics charging, as that produces a lot of static for us. Nevetheless our results have been highly variable. Sometimes it comes in crystal clear, sometimes it is illegible, and mostly it is somewhere in between.

This is a very valuable technology for us, as we are often in fjords with zero VHF reception, and will sometimes go a week or more without a cell phone signal. Anything to improve our results would be a huge bonus.